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According to super pollster John Zogby, whom The Washington Post calls “the maverick predictor,” the conventional wisdom about the United States–that we’re isolated from the world, politically fragmented, and inclined toward material pleasure–isn’t just flawed; it may be 180 degrees from the truth. In this far-reaching and illuminating look at contemporary American life, Zogby reveals nothing less than The Way We’ll Be. Drawing on thousands of in-depth surveys conducted especially for the book, Zogby points out where we’re headed–politically, culturally, and spiritually.

The American dream is in transition; it is rapidly being redefined by four meta-movements: living with limits as consumers and citizens; embracing diversity of views and ways of life; looking inward to find spiritual comfort; and demanding authenticity from the media, our leaders, and leading institutions. Spearheaded by today’s eighteen-to-twenty-nine-year-olds–the “First Global” generation–Americans are becoming more internationalist, consensus-oriented, and environmentally conscious and less willing to identify themselves by the things they do to earn or spend their money. But this is more than a youth tide. Americans of all ages are moving beyond old divides–red state/blue state, pro-life/pro-choice, beer drinker/wine connoisseur–to form a new national consensus that will shape the nation for decades to come.

Zogby’s cogent analysis of the data yields an astonishing perspective on Americans’ thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, now and in coming years. Understanding this emerging reality will be key for

• leaders in all fields who want to reach audiences that are more media-savvy, better informed, and more technologically enabled than ever before

• individuals in search of rewarding and fulfilling careers in tomorrow’s growth fields

• politicians and CEOs looking to marry policies and practices to the rising demand for social responsibility

• anyone who wants to market to the emerging new American consensus

Beyond telling a fascinating story, the conclusions in this book are a must-read for everyone from Main Street to Madison Avenue to Capitol Hill. Filled with expert analysis and insight from one of today’s most successful predictors and trend spotters, The Way We’ll Be will redefine how we view America’s future.

Like the data Zogby studies, reactions to his book were somewhat difficult to gauge. Several critics dismissed him as hopelessly optimistic, but they didn’t seriously attempt to debunk his data. Others offered an unqualified embrace of his vision of the future, but they didn’t provide any qualifications of their own. Perhaps the most reasonable response came from the Wall Street Journal. Michael Barone stressed that readers should keep in mind that Zogby is an unconventional pollster who sometimes pushes the boundaries of the field; at the same time, some of the trends that Zogby identifies are difficult to deny, even if one feels relatively less optimistic about them. Critics also disagreed on whether Zogby’s prose transcends the trends: some found themselves carried along by his occasional anecdotes and concise analysis, while others found themselves bogged down in the numbers. So The Way We’ll Be is a book about one man’s opinions about predicting the future based on many other people’s opinions. Only you can decide if that much irresolvable speculation will make your brain hurt.Copyright 2008 Bookmarks Publishing LLC

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

John Zogby is by far one of the most respected and prolific pollsters and chroniclers of social changes and sensibilities of our time.

In his new book "The Way We'll Be" he says that people want more than ever to be treated as individuals. He says they also want variety in the products they purchase. "They want choice, not imposition, and they are demanding to be treated as individuals," he says. I'm not sure this in and of itself is real news. But if you market to other people, it's certainly something you should know and understand. Only when you understand what people want can you successfully sell to them.

He also says that people are willing to settle for less. "Narrowing limits", he calls this attitude.

The one problem I found with the book was that the author seems to deal mostly about the current state of things and not as much about the future as you would expect. Of course, one call tell a lot about the future by the past.

What I found useful about the book is that it tells us about the consumer and the people we deal with daily. As a marketer, this information is valuable. Indeed, it is priceless. Just as politicians needs to know what motivates people, those who sell to people need to know their motivations as well.

While the book fails to tell us exactly what we might expect in the future (if that were even possible) in the way Alvin Toffler did, it is certainly a worthwhile book and one that I highly recommend.

This is the second book I have read in the past month by a political pollster. The first, "Words that Work," by Frank Luntz, was a cynical look at how polling can help corporations and politicians paint themselves in the most flattering light and bamboozle a helpless public. John Zogby's book could not be more different. It is a deep, exhaustive look at some of the insights he has gained through decades of polling about the state of the American psyche, what people value, want they hope for and where they would like the country and their own lives to go. Full disclosure: I worked with the author of this book for many years on political polls he conducted when I was chief political correspondent for Reuters. Obviously, I valued that partnership -- but this book is not primarily about politics. It is a kind of "State of the Union Address" and is by turns amusing, revealing and often surprising. Zogby's deepest insight is his proposition that there exists in our nation a vast group of Americans he calls "secular spiritualists" -- people craving meaning in their lives. Some find it through religion, but many look for spiritual sustenanance outside of organized churches. They want material comfort and security for themselves and their families, of course, but they also want to leave the world a better place than they found it; they crave emotional fulfillment and they are remarkably tolerant of ther races, religions and cultures. Unfortunately, politicians have completely failed to address these desires, preferring to fall back on unbridled negativity (as seen in this year's presidential campaign). Americans, Zogby says, want an ethical government, ethical corporations and ethical leaders.Read more ›

Naturally, you would expect a pollster to take poll answers and try to use them to predict the future: That's how pollsters make a living. Interestingly, their predictions quickly fall apart when the future is more than a few days away. That should be a hint that polls are a weak basis for looking at longer-term trends.

If you had polled teenagers in the sixties, you would have extrapolated their poll answers into having a country filled with wild livers among the following generations.

Each person is formed by events, reactions to events, the passage of time, and learning. Poll answers are a result of those formative influences. If Mr. Zogby can learn how to predict those influencers, then poll answers might have more value.

This book will mostly be of interest to those who don't know very much about how young people think about today's burning questions. If you are a young person, I doubt if you will learn very much except about how polls and poll interpretations are created. If you have young people in your family, you also know what's going on. If you are older and don't have much contact with younger people, you will probably think this is a three or four star book.

I also found lots of little errors in the book that made me wonder how careful a pollster Mr. Zogby is. One of my favorites was a sentence describing how those who were born during World War II were affected by their experiences during the Depression. Hmm. I guess the effects of the outside world on yet-to-be-conceived children are much stronger than I realized.

This was a hard book for me to finish. When I was done, I didn't feel like it was worth the effort.

Very disappointing. Zogby never goes beyond all his data to draw the insightful connections or provide the penetrating analysis that I was looking for. Yes, his central theme that American's are now living within an age of limits is a strong observation (and backed up with data) - but I was left wondering what are the larger forces that have caused this shift. Mark Penn's book Microtrends is a much better book - as by slicing the world in smaller segments he is able to tell a deeper and more satisfying story.